Editing Commercial broadcasting (section)

=== {{anchor|Paid-for services}}Paid programming ===
Commercial broadcasting overlaps with paid services such as [[cable television]], [[cable radio|radio]] and [[satellite television]]. Such services are generally partially or wholly paid for by local subscribers and is known as [[leased access]]. Other programming (particularly on cable television) is produced by companies operating in much the same manner as advertising-funded commercial broadcasters, and they (and often the local cable provider) sell commercial time in a similar manner.

The FCC's interest in program control began with the chain-broadcasting investigation of the late 1930s, culminating in the [[Blue Book (FCC)|"Blue Book" of 1946]], ''Public Service Responsibility For Broadcast Licensees''. The Blue Book differentiated between mass-appeal sponsored programs and unsponsored "sustaining" programs offered by the radio networks. This sustained programming, according to the Blue Book, had five features serving the public interest:
*Sustaining programs balanced the broadcast schedule, supplementing the soap operas and popular-music programs receiving the highest ratings and most commercial sponsors
*They allowed for the broadcast of programs which, by their controversial or sensitive nature, were unsuitable for sponsorship
*They supplied cultural programming for smaller audiences
*They provided limited broadcast access for [[non-profit]] and civic organizations
*They made possible artistic and dramatic experimentation, shielded from the pressures of short-run rating and commercial considerations of a sponsor.<ref name=Boddy>Boddy, William. ''Fifties Television: the Industry and Its Critics.'' University of Illinois Press, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-252-06299-5}}</ref>

Commercial time has increased 31 seconds per hour for all prime time television shows. For example, ABC has increased from 9 minutes and 26 seconds to 11 minutes and 26 seconds.<ref>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|225346067}} |last1=Fleming |first1=Heather |title=PSA slice shrinks as commercial pie grows |journal=Broadcasting & Cable |location=New York |volume=127 |issue=13 |date=31 March 1997 |pages=19–22 }}</ref>